N.J. says it will ban future severance checks to Paterson elected officials

By JOE MALINCONICO

Paterson Press

PATERSON – State officials on Friday said they will prohibit Paterson’s elected officials from ever again receiving payment for unused sick and vacation days.

Former mayor Jose “Joey” Torres

That announcement comes a week after municipal officials asked the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to review the city’s recent report on the $74,000 severance payment given to former mayor Jose “Joey” Torres on his last day in office in 2010.

The state declined to comment directly on Torres’ check for accrued sick and vacation days. But DCA spokeswoman Tammori Petty said the agency will prohibit Paterson’s elected officials from getting paid for unused leave days as one of the terms of an agreement through which the state gives the city its annual allotment of transition aid.

“Long hours come with the job and such pay is grossly inappropriate and wasteful,” said Petty.

Torres learned of the state’s announcement from Paterson Press on Friday morning.

“I think it’s consistent with the comments the governor has made about the need for reforms” on leave time payouts, Torres said.

“That doesn’t mean what happened was wrong,” the former mayor added, refrreing to the $73,996 payment he received.

Torres argued that his payment did not resulted from his being mayor, but from the service time he had accumulated when he left office. Torres has insisted that he was entitled to the payment based on Paterson’s personnel policies governing service time and leave payouts.

Meanwhile, Councilman Andre Sayegh welcomed the DCA’s announcement, but he also said he planned to move ahead with an ordinance that would explicitly ban city elected officials from getting paid for sick and vacation days. “I don’t want any other mayor to be able to manipulate the process,” Sayegh said.

Mayor Jeffery Jones and Business Administrator Charles Thomas could not be reached for comment about the DCA’s position. Jones on Thursday had said he was not sure whether he would seek payment for his unused sick and vacation days when he left office.

Torres, Jones and Sayegh are among 11 people who have picked up nominating petitions to run in the city’s mayoral election in May.

Former councilman aslon Goow, who exposed the Torres severance check last summer, said he was disappointed in the DCA’s announcement. “What’s the saying?

A penny short and a day late,” said Goow.

Goow, a bitter rival of Torres, said the state should do more than simply ban future severance checks for elected officials. He argued that the state was allowing Torres to get away with getting an improper payment. “He took something that he wasn’t entitled to,” said Goow, who is also running for mayor.

Councilman Rigo Rodriguez, another candidate in the mayoral field, said the DCA’s decision merely re-enforces what most people already knew. “I never heard of a mayor getting paid for sick days,” Rodriguez said.

In a 28-page report made public this week, Thomas highlighted “discrepancies” in the attendance records used to calculate Torres’ payment. The former mayor received $50,244 for 110 sick days and $23,752 for 52 vacation days.

Thomas’ report says the record show that Torres’ leave days were not tracked during his first 30 months as mayor. The report indicates that 30 of the sick days that Torres cashed in came from the years before his attendance was recorded.The city sent the report to the DCA, the state ethics board and the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office. The DCA is the first outside agency to react to the city’s report.

The state has used its transition aid agreement with Paterson, known as a Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, to oversee the city’s finances.For example, the MOUs from previous years have required the city to get state permission before municipal officials hired anyone or gave out any raises.

Last year, the state said it would withhold tens of thousands of dollars from Paterson’s transition aid award as a penalty for what the DCA deemed unapproved travel expenditures and improper administrative overtime.

N.J. says it will ban future severance checks to Paterson elected officials

PATERSON – State officials on Friday said they will prohibit Paterson’s elected officials from ever again receiving payment for unused sick and vacation days.

That announcement comes a week after municipal officials asked the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) to review the city’s recent report on the $74,000 severance payment given to former mayor Jose “Joey” Torres on his last day in office in 2010.

The state declined to comment directly on Torres’ check for accrued sick and vacation days. But DCA spokeswoman Tammori Petty said the agency will prohibit Paterson’s elected officials from getting paid for unused leave days as one of the terms of an agreement through which the state gives the city its annual allotment of transition aid.

“Long hours come with the job and such pay is grossly inappropriate and wasteful,” said Petty.

Torres learned of the state’s announcement from Paterson Press on Friday morning.

“I think it’s consistent with the comments the governor has made about the need for reforms” on leave time payouts, Torres said.

“That doesn’t mean what happened was wrong,” the former mayor added, refrreing to the $73,996 payment he received.

Torres argued that his payment did not resulted from his being mayor, but from the service time he had accumulated when he left office. Torres has insisted that he was entitled to the payment based on Paterson’s personnel policies governing service time and leave payouts.

Meanwhile, Councilman Andre Sayegh welcomed the DCA’s announcement, but he also said he planned to move ahead with an ordinance that would explicitly ban city elected officials from getting paid for sick and vacation days. “I don’t want any other mayor to be able to manipulate the process,” Sayegh said.

Mayor Jeffery Jones and Business Administrator Charles Thomas could not be reached for comment about the DCA’s position. Jones on Thursday had said he was not sure whether he would seek payment for his unused sick and vacation days when he left office.

Torres, Jones and Sayegh are among 11 people who have picked up nominating petitions to run in the city’s mayoral election in May.

Former councilman aslon Goow, who exposed the Torres severance check last summer, said he was disappointed in the DCA’s announcement. “What’s the saying?

A penny short and a day late,” said Goow.

Goow, a bitter rival of Torres, said the state should do more than simply ban future severance checks for elected officials. He argued that the state was allowing Torres to get away with getting an improper payment. “He took something that he wasn’t entitled to,” said Goow, who is also running for mayor.

Councilman Rigo Rodriguez, another candidate in the mayoral field, said the DCA’s decision merely re-enforces what most people already knew. “I never heard of a mayor getting paid for sick days,” Rodriguez said.

In a 28-page report made public this week, Thomas highlighted “discrepancies” in the attendance records used to calculate Torres’ payment. The former mayor received $50,244 for 110 sick days and $23,752 for 52 vacation days.

Thomas’ report says the record show that Torres’ leave days were not tracked during his first 30 months as mayor. The report indicates that 30 of the sick days that Torres cashed in came from the years before his attendance was recorded.The city sent the report to the DCA, the state ethics board and the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office. The DCA is the first outside agency to react to the city’s report.

The state has used its transition aid agreement with Paterson, known as a Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, to oversee the city’s finances.For example, the MOUs from previous years have required the city to get state permission before municipal officials hired anyone or gave out any raises.

Last year, the state said it would withhold tens of thousands of dollars from Paterson’s transition aid award as a penalty for what the DCA deemed unapproved travel expenditures and improper administrative overtime.